It was almost one of Australia's worst maritime disasters. Fifty years ago tomorrow, the icebreaker Kista Dan left Melbourne on an expedition to establish the first permanent Australian base in Antarctica. The mission was successful, but the return voyage was a near-catastrophe.

When the 65-metre ship left Victorian waters at the start of 1954, Mawson base had already been 10 years in the planning. There had been many Australian explorers to the frozen continent over the decades, including Douglas Mawson.

But Australia had no permanent presence on the slab of territory it had claimed in Antarctica.

To this end, the Antarctic Division of the Federal Government's Department of External Affairs was created in 1948.

A former Melbourne University physics lecturer, Dr Phillip Law, was appointed director of the division, with the goal of establishing the base.

On January 4, the Kista Dan headed south. After the team had scouted for a suitable location, Mawson base was built in just 12 days, a jumble of prefabricated aluminium buildings, food, stores, scientific equipment and over-snow vehicles.

It was declared open on February 13, and has been staffed continuously ever since. (Australia Post is due to a release series of stamps to mark the anniversary.)

But the Kista Dan's return trip to Australia in March could have been "the worst Antarctic tragedy in history", says Dr Law, now 91 and living in Canterbury.

"After leaving Mawson and carrying out coastal exploration further east, the ship turned for the voyage home and was struck by a fierce hurricane," he told The Age. "The captain lost control of the ship (which was) side-on to the wind and rolled to an almost horizontal level in mountainous seas cluttered with pack ice. Being rather unstable, she was in danger of capsizing and . . . being blown across Prydz Bay to smash against the ice cliffs of the bay's western shore."

How the Kista Dan remained upright is a mystery. That night, says Dr Law, remains the most horrifying of his life.

"By a miracle, the ship survived," he said. "If it had sunk with 60 men on board it would have been (at the time) the worst Antarctic tragedy in history."

Not that the near-disaster put him off Antarctica. Dr Law remained head of the division until 1966, ensuring Australia maintained a strong presence there. In 1957 a second base, Davis, was opened - again by Dr Law, travelling on the Kista Dan. The following year, he negotiated the transfer of the US-built Wilkes station to Australian control.

By the 1960s, Australia had become one of the top nations in Antarctic science and exploration. By the time Dr Law retired in 1966, he had made 28 voyages to the region, and nearly one million square kilometres of the Australian-run territory had been mapped.

Australia still maintains three permanently occupied Antarctic stations, and one on nearby Macquarie Island. Mawson and Davis bases are still on their original sites. Casey station was opened in 1969 to replace Wilkes, which had become uninhabitable due to snow.

But, says Dr Law, it would have been very different had the ship gone down 50 years ago. "It would have delayed Australia's permanent presence in Antarctica for 10 or 20 years," he said. Nor would he have been here to tell the tale.